Will the kemonomimi encounter Alien Ranch Story?

"I thought you would be in the third batch, but I didn't expect you to be in the fourth batch."

"I'm sorry," Truth silently bowed her head. The reason was that she herself was unable to adapt to the low gravity environment and G-force training for a long time, which delayed her from entering the space station until the new anti-G technology and shuttle were put into production.

They could only come with the people sent by Blacksteel International. In fact, everyone who came was from the sponsoring businesses: Seria, the security director of Rhine Labs, the laboratory director, and a young lady from Blacksteel International, who was just there to experience life.

Considering that Black Steel International sponsored an entire space Originium exploration module, they squeezed in one more person as a matter of course, making this the round with the lowest average level of professionalism among these launches.

On the other hand, where do all these astronauts come from to be sent up? The first few missions were heavy, busy, and dangerous, so they were all elites. As they go on, it's inevitable that their quality will decline.

The space shuttle's cargo bay has been opened. Drones attached to the docking module's outer shell slowly calibrate their positions, fly towards the cargo bay, and deliver the packaged goods to the cargo airlock. The goods will then be transported via external cargo rails to the storage area among the four functional zones.

"Welcome to the top of the world." The astronauts inside the station held a small welcome party for the new guests, and guided them on how to register their station passes, how to navigate the area and the personnel within the station, and finally arranged for them to rest.

After all, among these people, one is a security guard, two are people with connections, only one laboratory director is a staff member, and the captain and co-pilot are, but the latter will only stay on the space station until resupply is completed and then return to the ground.

Before the experimental equipment was installed, the people from Black Steel International and Rhine Life could not do any work. Rhine Life's main research project, approved by the Space Project Committee, was about cultivating an edible slime mold in space. Given that the Future Ark Project did require it, it was granted permission to go to the station ahead of schedule.

As for Black Steel's "Prototype Test of Space Originium Mining Tools" project, it had to be squeezed out, which made the people of Black Steel quite dissatisfied. As a kind of compensation, they allowed the daughter of their major shareholder to take a special trip to the space station.

Chapter Seventy-Three: Tour

Chapter 73

In the living area and public activity pods, "It's still quite basic, I hope you don't mind too much." The station manager and other station staff had all arrived. The activity pods were originally intended to be equipped with augmented reality equipment and various recreational and exercise equipment, but currently, most of the installation slots were empty, and unopened aluminum alloy packaging boxes could be seen everywhere.

They simply cleared out a space in the middle and installed a seat specifically for the space station. The shape of the seat is different from that on the ground; it looks more like some kind of metal arm. In fact, because there is no gravity, the act of "sitting" here is actually just wedging yourself into the groove of the seat, which serves to fix you in place rather than provide support.

"Let me introduce myself. I am the acting station chief here. I will be temporarily in charge until the next round of launches brings up the real station chief. My code name and real name is Surtr," said the Sarkaz girl with wildfire-like hair. "As for my hobbies and strengths, I cannot disclose that."

Then she pointed to the young man who had just "sat down" next to her and said, "This is our doctor at the station. He is also responsible for psychological counseling and health monitoring. He has the authority to order any of you to stop your current task, undergo psychological and health examinations, or even disqualify you and make you take the next boat home."

"But don't worry too much, he's actually quite nice. It's your turn, Jody."

“Jody, codename Lumen, it’s nice to meet you all. Don’t be too nervous. Generally speaking, these checks are routine. And since it’s different here than on the ground, we do need to be more careful,” the young doctor said with a gentle smile. “By the way, I’m from Agor and I’m also the station’s repair technician. If there’s anything you don’t understand, feel free to ask me.”

The last one was an Ursus girl. "Aurora, she switched from Sheragkaran Trade, saying she wanted to see the aurora. Our security chief, Miss Saria, you can work with her more."

"My expertise lies in extreme environment defense engineering, so I'm currently in charge of controlling all the security equipment at the site, including the external defense equipment."

For example, the movement of the superalloy shield plates around the main body, and the interception of lasers by debris, because the universe itself is also an "extreme environment," so Aurora studied related majors in Kazdel for a long time.

However, due to his studies, he missed these polar expeditions. Instead, because of his excellent professional skills, he was selected as a member of the space station crew.

Of course, you can still see the aurora here, and even more spectacular aurora phenomena, so it's worth it.

"Alright, it's your turn."

“Truth, um, I remember mentioning before that I’m here to do interviews and record things. Of course, I can handle most of the work, so there’s no need to give me special treatment.” Truth spoke first. As a reporter, she needed to build good relationships with all sorts of people as much as possible.

“I did receive your resume and application, and to be honest, I’m quite against it.” Surtr sighed. The site was in complete disarray; what they needed were people to do the work, not reporters who were just causing trouble. “However, if you are truly capable of the job, that would be ideal.”

"Saria, you don't need an introduction, everyone here knows you." Because she needed to start training from scratch, Saria, who had no prior experience, had to put in a lot of effort to keep up. She became familiar with everyone during ground training.

It is worth mentioning that many of the trainees at the microgravity training facility are not actually astronauts; they are participating as personnel to assist in testing equipment. After all, Terrans have many animalistic characteristics, and many devices and protective gear on the space station need to be specially designed.

For example, Suzuran is such a support staff member. She does not receive astronaut training, but only helps everyone test solutions on how to move in a zero-gravity environment. She also helps with projects such as how hairy operators can solve the problem of hair floating in a zero-gravity environment and collect and clean up their hair.

The reason she can't go to space is that her tails are too numerous and too large. In a weightless environment, her tails would swell up like a flower ball and float around aimlessly, making it impossible for her to control her movements. Moreover, they could easily bump into some equipment, causing it to start up accidentally.

"Um, Jessica, Black Steel International, although there are still many things I don't understand, I can learn them slowly."

"Okay, there's still a lot you need to learn here." This woman is rich. Everyone knew this before she arrived because Raytheon Industries and Kazdel didn't cooperate. As an intern operator at Blacksteel, she obviously couldn't get a spot. So, she spent money to buy Blacksteel's shares. Now she's one of Blacksteel's major shareholders.

Before getting married, the landlady probably didn't have as much wealth as this rich woman. Of course, the landlady now can probably do something similar. No, it seems like it wouldn't be a problem to claim that such a large space station belongs to her.

"That's enough self-introductions. Let's get to work now. Truth, you and I will go to the control room. Aurora, you take Blacksteel and Rhine Lab's distinguished guests to the lab."

"Did we miss someone?"

"No need to introduce White Owl, her brain is a bit special, in short, it can be considered one of the sequelae of Oripathy." Old Xia couldn't repair the part of her self-awareness that was damaged by the Originium particles, after all, there was really no way to replace her with a bouncy brain.

Because this part is damaged, the White Owl is unable to recognize "me" or anything related to "me". Therefore, in order to solve this problem, she has to induce her mind to form the current situation. So, when she speaks, she defines "me" as a communication interface called "White Owl".

The damage may seem minor, but if one cannot recognize "I," one cannot recognize anything related to "I," including various emotions, attitudes, feelings, and so on.

Although she could understand these things, she couldn't perceive or feel them. In other words, for her, it was like watching a movie that had nothing to do with her, and she couldn't immerse herself in the characters.

However, she is also Rhine Lab's foremost expert in biology, especially Originium biology. Her famous saying is that while Originium is constantly consuming Terra's organic resources, how can we find something special to gain from it and consider the price to be appropriate?

After all, she herself couldn't comprehend how serious the consequences of the experiment were, and she couldn't understand the empathy of others, which was very troublesome. "As for this Miss Black Steel, I'll leave her to you, Lumin."

“Okay, I’ll take good care of her.” Jody gave Jessica a friendly smile.

"Miss Jessica, this is the living pod. You must have trained your skills on the ground." The living pod is a standard cylindrical structure with six sleeping pods symmetrically arranged on the inner wall of the cylinder, forming a ring. Next to the sleeping pods are storage cabinets and personal workbenches, equipped with foldable tablet terminals and supports to secure the body.

At the end of the living quarters is the decontamination room, where you can shower and use the toilet. There are two showers and two toilets, one for men and one for women. Because the required equipment is somewhat different, the toilet facilities for women and men in space are not quite the same, so it's not possible to build separate toilets for them.

After passing through the decontamination area, you'll reach the dining area. However, it's essentially just a small space appliance with only an induction cooker and a microwave to heat the food. You eat either while floating or strapped into a frame-like seat. Beyond the dining area is an airtight door, from which EVA activities and changing into your extravehicular activity suit are possible.

“I, I will try to get used to it.” Jessica tried out the equipment. Although her movements were clumsy, they were still quite standard. Jody breathed a slight sigh of relief. At least she wasn’t a giant baby. If she couldn’t even do these things, it wouldn’t be much easier for the astronauts on the site than taking care of an infant who couldn’t take care of himself.

“You’ve already been to the activity compartment, so next up is the data compartment.” Jody floated out of the compartment with Jessica, carefully closing the door and turning the handle.

"Listen up, Miss Jessica, here, closing doors is not only a good virtue, but also a necessary safety measure, because in the event of a gas leak, fire, electrical discharge, or other disaster, whether it is from the outside or the inside, the door can prevent the disaster from escalating further."

Of course, Jody didn't explain to Jessica the significance of the small compartment, which is only about the width of one person, between the habitation module and the connecting passage. This is the connecting control module; simply put, it's where the connection between the habitation module and the main space station can be disconnected.

Whether it's for expanding living quarters and connecting passages in the future or preventing disasters from escalating, these devices and manual operating systems are very useful. However, these devices and manual operating systems are hidden under the panel. To avoid a novice messing around, Jody decided not to tell her, lest she cause an accident out of curiosity.

The data compartment, activity compartment, and living quarters are arranged in a clover-like pattern, while at the end of the passageway is the power compartment, which is marked "Entry Prohibited".

Inside are the batteries and the power control system for the functional areas. It's best not to let newcomers go in and mess around, or the stationmaster will go berserk.

“The archive room is where all kinds of experimental data and video materials are stored. You can think of it as a library,” Jody floated among the drawer-like shelves and pulled out a data board. “However, right now there are only some professional manuals and materials. They said they would bring us something special next time.”

"In addition, this is also a workshop with a simple processing workbench and toolbox. If there is a problem, it is best to fix it yourself. At an altitude of nearly 4 kilometers, there are no repairmen who can come to help you fix these faulty devices with just a phone call."

The workbench here is fully equipped, including miniature machines that use directional high-speed ion flow cutting, laser engraving and ion etching, as well as workbenches with enclosed glove boxes to prevent metal and other conductive debris from flying around.

However, the most important items are the various tools for working outside the space station, which are neatly hung in locked toolboxes.

"Make sure to secure the tools properly after use and lock the case. Otherwise, when the space station maneuvers, the contents may be thrown out, potentially causing greater damage and possibly injuring you as well."

The tools weren't locked properly, which resulted in someone getting injured. Someone hit their head on the head with a loose wrench. Luckily, there's no gravity here, so the impact wasn't too serious; it was just a minor cut and no bleeding.

However, this also serves as a warning to everyone that these kinds of things still need to be secured. In addition, used materials and parts should be stored separately to avoid them being scattered around and causing unnecessary losses and damage.

"Okay, that concludes today's introduction. The installation of other functional areas is not yet complete."

In the general area, the Columbia Laboratory is not large; given their technological capabilities, they couldn't make it too big. Various equipment boxes were delivered by drones through an airtight door at the other end of the laboratory. Boxes with small magnets were piled on the floor inside the laboratory, awaiting installation.

"This is your work area. Although the public and living areas are shared, please do not enter our experimental area and core command module without permission to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings," Aurora said after leading White Owl and Saria to the location. "Honestly, in a place like this, maintaining cooperation as much as possible is an essential quality for long-term survival."

"I'm not threatening you, I'm just stating a fact." Aurora sighed. She had thought that the snow-capped mountains of Shelag and the ice fields of the Arctic were already extremely difficult tests, but here, the difficulty of the test was doubled. On the snow-capped mountains, she could use her body to create a defense for her companions, but here, it had no effect other than adding another unnecessary victim.

"Let's get to work. You're not some pampered young lady on vacation after all." Aurora didn't just stand by and watch. She helped Saria unpack the equipment, and then White Owl took charge of the installation and debugging. They worked for several hours before the initial installation was completed. The subsequent adjustments and experimental procedures were no longer her concern.

“Alright, Ms. Saria, I’m handing over security control of the integrated area to you. You can now access the area’s cameras, access control, and airtight structure information. Of course, I still need to remind you that although we allow a minimum level of armament on the station, the use of weapons and ammunition requires my consent. I hope you can understand.”

“No problem.” Saria knew perfectly well that this was someone else’s territory, and listening to advice was the only reasonable choice.

"Also, even though the experimental modules here are equipped with triple protective doors, some high-risk experiments should not be carried out inside the modules. If it is found that there is a threat to the space station, we will separate your modules to prevent the harm from spreading."

"Understood. We are only conducting the minimum experimental projects, and your review department has approved them." In reality, they can only conduct the minimum standard experimental projects. More related machines, equipment, and raw materials have not yet been delivered. Moreover, this is the first time Rhine Life has conducted any kind of project in space, so naturally they need to try it out.

Meanwhile, in the core area, in the life support pod, "It's so beautiful here." The four sides of this pod are made of glowing glass boxes, filled with various plants, and in the center is a columnar core reactor, with shimmering green and blue light filling the entire room.

Truth took out his recording equipment and started filming. He would finish the narration back in his living quarters later.

“This is the life support area. These plants are actually part of the experiment, not for providing oxygen. However, the people before me thought that putting some green plants could absorb the reactor’s radiation, so they installed them like this.” Surtr floated in the center of the cabin.

"The thing above us is the cooler, and below it is the heater. These plants are also a kind of... biological monitoring device, since they will die very quickly if the temperature control fails."

"Water, oxygen, and your excrement will all be processed here. Some of the unprocessable waste will be rendered harmless and launched out of the space station, while the rest will be recycled. Don't misunderstand, we're not talking about eating that stuff, but rather turning it into fertilizer. In our experimental area, there is a special space bio-module containing a variety of crops. Although it's part of the experiment, it's still edible."

Old Xia wasn't interested in this part, nor did he want to experiment with or obtain anything from it, so it was outsourced and leased to other Terran agricultural and industrial groups that didn't have the funds to go up there. Simply put, most of Kazdel's experimental areas were actually just "OEM areas," while the ones in the general area were the real laboratories.

After all, the technology on Lao Xia's side is already mature. It only needs to be tested in a space environment to familiarize the operators with it. There is no need for any more complicated experiments and tests.

"Don't be fooled by how small the reactor is; it actually has a power output of 700 megawatts, enough to power a small city. And this is just the control unit; the actual reactor is located further down and is much larger."

“Okay, there’s actually no up or down here. If we’re using Terra’s position as a reference, it should be… above?” Surtr pointed to the ceiling, then spun around in mid-air. “We usually refer to the command pod as the top, so you’ll need to familiarize yourself with the directions.”

"Is there anything else I should be aware of?"

"Not at the moment, if you don't interfere with our work."

"I won't, and I've received full training, so I won't cause you any trouble."

"That would be great." Nobody likes to cram a few idle people into an already dangerous, cramped, and incredibly busy work environment.

"Alright, that concludes today's tour. You'll be staying here for about four weeks, so take your time to explore. There's no need to rush."

Chapter Seventy-Four: The Client's Happy Boat

Chapter 74

Kazdel, the shipyard, has completed the construction of all its manufacturing facilities. After the trial production was completed, it entered the formal construction phase. The design and installation plan, which the contract manufacturer jokingly referred to as "a nanny-level solution for the mentally challenged," as well as all the technical specifications, have been issued.

They assembled Kazdel's most powerful team of skilled workers and engineers to prepare for the first official construction of a starship in Terra's nearly two thousand years.

Unlike the shuttle and space shuttle, which require booster rockets, its specifications require the ability to take off from the ground, enter orbit, and return completely independently, to have fully pressurized chambers, and to carry large structures, such as the first main body of Space Bay, which has already completed the manufacturing phase.

It can also carry four large engineering drones to reinforce the existing space station's module structure and architecture, allowing for the installation of future, larger expansion structures. It is anticipated that in the future, the entire space station will transform from its current plastic tank structure into a complete keel structure with armored plating.

Space Bay is divided into five phases. The first phase can manufacture and dock small engineering shuttles, which will allow for the gradual clearing of the surrounding Originium meteorites, expanding the cavity area, and installing more cabins.

The current central control room will be downgraded to a node control system in the future. Because it has a complete technological lineage and development roadmap, all current cabin structures and standards are backward compatible.

It will then become a large space structure consisting of numerous ordinary cylindrical small cabins, block-shaped medium-sized cabins, connecting passages, external rails, and a reinforced structural frame.

It will also install a larger control center, a larger reactor, external backup power, and space factory equipment. After completing this phase, the space bay will undergo a second phase of expansion, enabling the delivery and reception of large cargo containers. This will eliminate the need for spacecraft to travel back and forth to send supplies; instead, unmanned cargo container launchers can be used to launch cargo containers directly into space.

The third phase of expansion will begin after the space station is fully hardened, involving the installation of long-range spacecraft acceleration orbits to launch shuttles to the moon, deploy lunar mining stations, and handle the sending and receiving of space cargo containers.

The fourth phase involved the installation of space shipbuilding facilities, and the fifth phase involved the installation of cargo ship docks, thus concluding the Space Bay construction project.

It is projected that it will be able to meet the living and working needs of 1500 staff and 300 combat personnel in the future, and will be able to complete large-scale material and personnel transfer operations between Terra, the Moon, and the Ark construction site. In addition, other auxiliary space facilities will be built around Space Bay, including a space smelter, an Originium energy processing station, an Ark component manufacturing station, and an extended living quarters, among other facilities.

Reaching this stage also means that military and weapons facilities can be deployed in space. Terra has no treaty prohibiting the deployment of military and weapons facilities in space, so it would be difficult for other countries to cause trouble. If they try to fight hard, they can't defeat Kazdel's fleet, but if they try soft tactics, the other side has complete independent intellectual property rights (in the eyes of the Terrans).

Blacksteel set a leading example: if you can't win, why not join in? Why waste your time and resources fighting a battle only to gain nothing in return?